While You Wait For The Others

I'm back from a vacation totally not spent playing an unhealthy amount of FIFA in my pajamas, but recruiting is still in a holding pattern—the holiday dead period continues through Thursday. It's the week for All-American games, however, so recruiting reporters have descended upon San Antonio and St. Petersburg to catch up with the nation's top prospects.

The latest on FL S Leon McQuay III does not sound promising. ESPN's Derek Tyson reports he'll announce his decision on Friday from three as-yet-unnamed schools, and the Wolverines may be on the outside looking in ($):

The four-star athlete has a top five of USC, Michigan, Oregon, Vanderbilt and FSU, but McQuay said he won't have all five hats for his selection on Friday.

"Yeah ... I don't know [if Michigan still in consideration]. I don't know how many hats I'll have up there," he said. "My dad said he wasn't paying for five hats. I'll probably only have three hats up there.

McQuay, who will enroll in January, said Florida State is the only school that has accepted him for admittance so far, but he is working with other schools to gain acceptance.

Sam Webb confirms he'll visit a Michigan bowl practice, so the coaches will get one last shot to sway McQuay, though with mere hours remaining until the Outback Bowl their priorities likely lie elsewhere. Insider rumblings haven't been particularly positive regarding McQuay and a choice for the Wolverines would surprise.

VA RB Derrick Green reiterated to Mike Farrell that Michigan is his favorite, with the rest of the picture murky—Florida State recently offered and could get an unofficial visit, while Oregon is now out of the picture ($). If a school is going to pass the Wolverines, it will have to be soon, as Green said "I definitely know [a decision is] going to be in January."

Let's just say there's more reason for optimism surrounding Green than McQuay.

One new 2013 name emerged in the last couple weeks: PA OT Jaryd Jones-Smith, a three-star lineman who could take an official visit on January 18th ($). He doesn't hold an offer yet, and it seems like he could be a backup plan for guys like Dan Samuelson and Cameron Hunt.

[Hit THE JUMP for an important hair-related bulletin, All-American week primer, and more.]

HAIR

All-American Primer, Non-Hair Edition

It's the week for All-American games, and Michigan will be well-represented by their commits. The action kicks off in earnest on Friday with the Under Armour game, which airs at 5 pm on ESPN; Shane Morris, Henry Poggi, David Dawson, Patrick Kugler, and Logan Tuley-Tillman will all suit up for the white team. Mike McCray will miss the game due to a torn labrum in his left shoulder.

Kicking off an hour after the Under Armour game is the Semper Fi All-American Bowl, where Maurice Hurst Jr. will play for the East squad.

Finally, the Army All-American Bowl is at noon on Saturday. Jake Butt and Dymonte Thomas will represent the Wolverines on the East team; Chris Fox was slated to play for the West but will sit out with a torn ACL suffered in his final high school game. Fox will almost assuredly redshirt next year thanks to that injury (and, let's hope, offensive line depth).

That redshirt year is huge for a Freshman's progression boh phyiscally and mentally.Hopefully he can return by the end of the year and bowl season to get some quality practice time in before Spring 2014.

“True loyalty is that quality of service that grows under adversity and expands in defeat. Any street urchin can shout applause in victory, but it takes character to stand fast in defeat. One is noise — the other, loyalty.”

He won't miss that much practice time. 9 months would put him around mid September-ish. It's possible he misses a couple weeks of camp and that's it. As a frosh who wasn't going to enroll early anyway, he'd likely be eased in at that point anyway, so I wouldn't worry. He'll be a full go by midway through the season and he'll start spring 2014 practices no different than if he had redshirted.

I would add that despite what McCray says that recovery from that injury will definitely impact the early parts of his freshman year. He won't be "out" but with the deconditioning that will happen due to his recovery/rehab, I think a redshirt must be considered. Maybe some of you recruiting junkies (Ace?) know better than I do: was he in the coaches plans to play early next year?

I respectfully disagree. Now that RJS has been confirmed as an inside LB it means that in 2014 we will have only MFJR at SLB - and there is a slim chance that he might go early. So I think the coaches would like to get McCray some PT next year so that he is ready for (at least) the two deep in 2014. The recruitment of Ball would give them another potential SLB, but he is more likely to red shirt in order to bulk up.

Even if you think he'd be headed for playing time in 2014, he'd likely be the #3 SAM in 2013. There's really no need to burn a redshirt just to get a few snaps as the #3 guy at his position. I mean, he might have been able to help out on special teams like Royce Jenkins-Stone did, but playing time at linebacker would be very sparse (barring injury to Jake Ryan or Cam Gordon).

Brian prophesied his return and his coming would hail the destruction of Ohio State and Sparty, end the war, bring freedom to our people.

I don't think the coaches are looking for a Gibbs-quality defensive tackle right now. They've got an offer out to Jay-nard Bostwick, who's a higher caliber player than Gibbs...but other than an elite guy, there's really no need for defensive linemen.

Could this explain why the coaches started to push for an additional SAM recruit for this class? (ex Bell from Wisconsin). Coaches could be anticipating the Ryan could have a national following next year and could possibly go to the NFL. It would make sense if they wanted to burn a linebacker redshirt to get experience as insurance from that scenario. thoughts?

Love it when it seems we've thrown in the towel before the 1st whistle blows. We'll find a way to win. A month to prepare, Denards final game, This kid and this team are going to play as well as they have all season, and there will be no whining about A.B's play calling come this time tomorrow. Go Blue!!!!!